Number 27 July 2005

The Characters of A Lie of the Mind:
Their Power, Lies and Deceit

Julienne Vipond

Sam Shepard’s A Lie of the Mind is an odd play with a slightly surreal feel to it, a play that has been structured around power dynamics and the lengths that some characters will go to create an alternate reality, a fantasy, a lie within their own minds that is so complex it takes the entire to differentiate what is real from what is false. By creating these not quite realistic characters faced with an almost realistic situation, Shepard produces a play that makes us question the bond of love, the strength of family, and the courage that is necessary to accept the truths of one’s own life.

A Lie of the Mind essentially divides itself into two parts: one focusing on Beth’s family and one on Jake’s family. We first see the split between the two families when Beth and Jake become separated because of the severe beating Jake gives Beth, and both characters retreat into their respective families. At this time Beth is relying upon her brother Mike, just as Jake is relying upon his brother Frankie. While it would seem that Beth is the victim of this situation and Jake is the antagonist, what we actually see is that Beth and Jake are in similar situations. That is, not only is Beth pleading with her brother saying “[d]on’t leeve me” (12), but Jake indicates his own dependence and fear by saying the exact same thing to Frankie: “Don’t leave” (18).

This similarity between the two main characters and their families is not the only one we find. As this story unravels we see that the entire structure of each family is essentially built upon the same foundations. Beth’s family is structured around patriarchy and denial while Jake’s family is centered around power and blatant lies. We see parallels and contrasts between Lorraine and Meg, Jake and Beth and between Sally, Mike and Frankie.

Lorraine is characterized as a woman who is at times despicable; seeking to replace her dead husband with her eldest son, she ties Jake to her and is extremely jealous of Beth. In fact it, would seem that Lorraine goes out of her way to deny Beth’s existence altogether:

SALLY: Mom! Jake might have killed Beth! That’s what’s goin’ on. All right? (Pause.)
LORRAINE: Who’s Beth? (Pause.)
SALLY: Oh, my God. Jake’s wife. Beth. You remember her? Beth? Little, skinny Beth?
LORRAINE: Never heard a’ her (22).

Not only this, but Lorraine, when she does acknowledge Beth’s existence, refers to her as “that ding-bat woman a’ yours” (30) and states that Beth deserved to be killed because she chose to be with “a man like that” (22). It then becomes increasingly clear that Lorraine does not want her son to be with a woman, any woman: “I don’t know why in the world you insist on gettin’ so worked up over a woman. A woman ain’t worth that kind of loss. Believe you me. There are more pretty girls than one in the world. Not that she was such a looker” (29).

In correlation with the fact that Lorraine doesn’t want her son to be independent and able to be with a woman, Lorraine seems to desire to keep Jake tied to her. This is clearly seen through her constant references to Jake as a “boy” (22) rather than a man, especially her telling Sally, “leave, girl. This is my boy here” (25). This language leads to the eerie impression that Lorraine has incestuous feelings toward Jake. It is clearly this predominant feeling of possession and the need to control the boy version of the man she has once loved that drives Lorraine to undermine Jake’s true character, building him up in her mind to be as she would like him to be.

What we see with the character of Meg is both startlingly similar to Lorraine and very different at the same time. Meg, like Lorraine, seems unaware of her child’s marital partner as she asks the question “[w]ho’s Jake?” (26), yet Meg does not seem to be unaware of her surroundings due to insecurity or a need to control; rather she seems to be under the impression that she is living out her mother’s life. We know from Meg’s dialogue with Baylor that Meg’s mother suffered from a mental illness, so perhaps we can justify to ourselves Meg’s series of lies and her weak-minded character.

By the end of this story, however, we have come to realize that it is not only Lorraine and Meg who are lying to themselves. Each character is in fact involved in an intricately woven series of lies and deceit. For Mike it is the lie that he must protect his sister out of love, when really it is just patriarchal obligation, and a desire to control rather than help: “You just settle down now. I’ve about had it with you. I’ve been out there all night long in zero cold trying to protect you!” (37).We also see a cruel, jeering side of Mike, the side that is not interested in his sister’s thoughts or feelings: “Oh, so now you’re not dead. Today you’re not dead. Yesterday you were dead but today you’re not. I gotta’ keep track a’ this. Makes a big difference who you’re talking to—a corpse or a live person” (37).

Although each character lives through a series of self-created lies, with the exception of Beth, it is perhaps Lorraine’s, Sally’s, and Jake’s lies and the way in which they deal with them that are of the most consequence within the play. Two of the most important scenes in this play are perhaps the scene in which Lorraine and Sally discuss Sally and Jake’s father’s death, and the scene in which Jake finally confronts Beth. At the time of the first of these two scenes we are already aware that Jake was with his father at the time of his death, but in this scene we come to understand that Jake was in fact directly responsible for his father’s death. In this climactic conflict we realize that Lorraine has been suspicious all along about the nature of her husband’s death, Sally has been covering up for Jake, and Jake is unable to admit his own guilt, even to himself (64-72). This scene is very powerful and important, for it is here that Sally overcomes her fears and discards her lies by telling her mother the truth, forcing Lorraine to see what her life, their lives, have been. Lorraine finally realizes that both her husband and Jake were “hopeless men” and that there’s “nothing you can do about the hopeless” (72).

Similarly, in the final scene between Beth and Jake, Jake is able to see the truth behind all the lies: “These things—in my head—lie to me. Everything lies. Tells me a story. Everything in me lies. But you. You stay. You are true. I know you now. You are true. I love you more than this life. You stay. You stay with him. He’s my brother” (93). It is at this point that Jake is able to see that Beth has never lied, has never been untrue, and that he is perhaps unworthy of her.

As for Beth, it is true that she has never lied. Perhaps the greatest irony of the play is that the only character that has told the truth throughout and has never been in a state of self-denial is the character that suffers from aphasia and cannot communicate clearly. It is, after all, Beth who understands that when Jake beat her he lost as much as she did, killing something in both of them:

BETH: Hee killed us both.
MIKE: You’re not dead, Beth. You’re going to be all right.
BETH: I’M DEAD! DEAD! DAAAAH! HEEZ TOO.
MIKE: You gotta’ forget about him for now! You gotta’ just forget about him!
BETH: NAAH! You gan’ stop my head. Nobody! Nobody stop my head. My head is me. Heez in me. You gan stop him in me. Nobody gan stop him in me.
MIKE: This guy tried to kill you! How can you still want a man who tried to kill you! What’s the matter you! He’s the one who did this to you!
BETH: HEEZ MY HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART!!! (20-21).

The result of the catastrophic beating and the events that follow is that Beth realizes that Frankie is essentially Jake “without hate” (58) and she gives up the man she loves with nothing more than “I remember now. The first time I saw you. The very first time I ever saw you. Do you remember that too?” (93).

Although this play’s ending is a far cry from a happy one, we are able to see the bond that Jake and Beth share, the barriers Sally and Lorraine are able to overcome, allowing them to hold on to what’s left of their family, and the courage that was necessary for these characters to see through their own lies and deceit.

Works Cited

Shepard, Sam. A Lie of the Mind: A Play in Three Acts. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 1986.